“People’s
Court” and its countless imitators stem from an idea a man brought to two game
show producers in 1975. His idea bore little resemblance to the format
eventually used.

It
was one John Masterson who came to “Let’s Make a Deal” host Monty Hall and his
partner, producer-writer Stefan Hatos. His notion was
to put cameras in various courtrooms in Los
Angeles and air segments of
proceedings.

Hatos and Hall liked the
idea, and paid Masterson for a one-year option. A young associate, StuBillett, was charged with
finding a network to air such a show.

Apparently
not appreciated by the production company was that in 1975 (and until July,
1984), California
Rules of Court, rule 980 barred cameras in the courtrooms.

In
any event, the option ran out, and Masterson himself tried, unsuccessfully, to
market the idea.

Billett, who had gone off on his own,
remained intrigued by Masterson’s concept. But he thought it needed fine
tuning.

To
get an idea of what court proceedings were like, he went to the downtown
Central Courthouse.

“I
went from courtroom to courtroom to see what was going on,” he told me. “It was
so dull. People stand there reading off their long, yellow pads. Judges
propping their eyes to keep them open.”

But
then, he recounted, “I stumbled into this small claims court.” Eureka!

Billett found there
were “funny, funny cases.”

He
witnessed one in which a “little Jewish man was suing a black kid.” The youth
had sold the man three pairs of glasses trimmed with colored bits of reflective
tinsel. But when he got home, “all of the sparkles are gone,” Billett said. The plaintiff wanted his money back. It turned out, however, that the man had palsy—his hand shook.
“He insisted on putting the three glasses in one bag,” Billett
noted, resulting in the bits being shaken off as he walked.

Billett found that
75,000 small claims cases a year were being filed in Los
Angeles. For a 26-week,
five-day-a-week series, he figured, he only needed 500 cases. The producer said
he assumed “there had to be 500 funny cases like that.”

While Masterson had
proposed taping actual courtroom proceedings, Billett decided it would be “less trouble doing it in a
studio.”

Masterson,
he reflected, “really brought the idea for Court TV.” The format actually
utilized, Billett said, was his own creation.
Nonetheless, Masterson was given credit as the originator and vested with an
ownership interest in the show.

STU
BILLETTExecutive
Producer of "People's Court" and originator of the reality
courtroom format now in use on all TV court shows.

Billett is seen
with a cake at the celebration of the show's 3,000th episode, taped
in New York on Nov. 16, 2000. "People's Court" is seen
locally on KTTV, Channel 11.

The
jurisdictional maximum in small claims court was then $750. “We didn’t want to
become a collection agency,” Billett said, explaining
that it was decided that a winning plaintiff would be paid the amount of the
award, with a $750 ceiling on it, out of the show’s account. To get on
“People’s Court,” the parties dismissed their actions and agreed to binding
arbitration, in a simulated courtroom setting.

Once again, Billett tried to sell the show
to the networks. NBC indicated an interest.

But
that network’s concept was to have a black comic like Nipsey
Russell—who Billett said was “real hot then”—or Pigmeat Markham (whose novelty recording “Here Comes the
Judge” led to recurring bits on “Laugh in”) “listen to a case and make jokes.”
At a commercial break, he would be “coached by a real judge,” then come back on
camera and render his ruling. “It was a stupid idea,” Billett
commented. Nonetheless, when Billett mentioned the
stupid idea to Tony Cassara, president of the
Television Division of Golden West Broadcasters, which then owned KTLA, Channel 5, Cassara
was unwilling to dismiss the approach. Billett said
that Cassara wanted two pilots to be made at KTLA’s facilities, one done seriously, and the other in a
comedic way.

One
pilot was made—with retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Wapner—playing it straight. Billett
said he couldn’t go through with making a humorous version. He recalled
explaining to Cassara that “they’re real cases” and
disputants would not be willing to give up a court
adjudication to have some comedian conduct an arbitration.

In the end, the
networks all rejected “People’s Court,” as did Golden
West, and the decision was made to syndicate the show. That held the promise of
low ratings and a short run.

Just
as KABC’s public affairs show “Traffic
Court” became a surprise
ratings winner in 1957, leading to a wave of courtroom shows, “People’s Court,”starringWapner, did the same in 1981.